To note any requests to speak on any item on the agenda in accordance with the Council’s Public Speaking Scheme (see note at end of the agenda).
Minutes:
The Chair welcomed three public speakers on agenda item 2 - Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service - Community Risk Management Plan, who raised a number of questions:
Jill Machado -
· What are Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service currently doing to support Firefighters in what must be a difficult time for them with the prospect of reduced salaries with resilience? If morale is low the increase of absences due to Mental Health is already the highest reason for sickness in the brigade. This demoralizing is a potential to reduce availability, is this a self-fulfilling prophecy?
· Day crew plus is being removed as it's not in the Grey book, and neither is 'resilience', recall to duty is, but only for officers. There does not appear to be any clear plans as to how this work or be funded.
· A member of the B36 action group asked for statistics for each fire station on attendance for July. We would like to highlight that Bidford on Avon Fire Station has one of the highest responses. The decision to keep B36 as a manned station by Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service has been vilified. Can we seek assurance that Bidford 36 will not have a reduced status for the next 10 years?
Penny Barry -
· Can the council confirm there will be funding in place long term, without the continuous use of reserves, it is a recognized that whole-time resources are the most expensive type of fire cover; will the funding be available in 3 or 5 years’ time?
· The Fire Brigade Union has told us. negotiations take time and duty systems take time to be put in place with no restraints, the timeline for the service staff consultation we believe is January 2025 – can you confirm this is correct? This will be 6 months from the proposal conception in July 2024, 14 months from the consultation start date, eating into your review time.
· Contracted on call, currently, there are many whole-time firefighters who have dual roles, whole time and on-call. Are you aware going forward as there seems to be uncertainty as to whether these dual roles will be available for these dedicated Fire Fighters. Several whole-time firefighters are officers in charge at whole time stations. Will their roles change, and what will be the impact if these roles are not filled by whole-time firefighters on leadership and available of appliances and the impact on training new recruits?
· Never forget, our firefighters are selfless, whenever everyone else is running away from a house or vehicle fire, they are running towards it. Yes, they are well trained but as we all know, fire and floods are unpredictable. They put their lives at risk.
Scott Haberton -
· Regarding the management of fire stations, particularly in terms of staffing rotas and the resulting morale. Could we have some insight into how this critical transition is being managed?
· Regarding recruitment, it is fantastic we are recruiting internally but I have not noticed any advertisements externally so I would like to know how ramp-up plan is being managed in terms of this recruitment effort?
· I have heard some training sessions have been cancelled for on-call firefighters. It seems counter-productive as we would like those people to possibly be contracted on-call. Is this gap in training being resolved at some point and what the back up plan is if it is not?
The Chair invited Councillor Andy Crump (Portfolio Holder for Fire and Rescue and Community Safety) to respond. Councillor Crump agreed that firefighters were doing a great job and they had to be well trained due to the dangers they faced. They were an asset to the communities they lived and worked in.
He noted that the questions raised did not specifically relate to the Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) but in the spirit of openness and transparency, he responded as follows:
· In terms of the timescales that had been referred to in the questions, if the service had done things more quickly, there would have been accusations of rushing, having preconceived ideas and not listening to residents, professionals and firefighters who had proposed reasonable alternatives.
· The radical changes were as a result of the consultation process and resulted in investment of £2.2m over three years. Funding settlements from central government were usually on a one year basis, so he could not provide long-term guarantees but the funding would be there for three years to recruit an additional 30 whole-time fire fighters, ensure stations and appliances were fit for purpose and training and facilities were available for staff. Work was ongoing to protect the budget for Fire and Rescue.
· The Fire Brigade Union had engaged and worked with the service and it was felt a strong working relationship existed. It was anticipated delivery would start in January 2025.
· In terms of firefighters with dual roles, the service was committed to minimising the impact on staff during this period of change. Fire fighters were being supported by the leadership team who would be meeting with staff on a planned basis to discuss proposals. Support was also available from occupational health teams, fire and rescue well-being ambassadors and the new Employee Assist programme.
· Regarding Grey Book models, work had taken place with Trade Unions to understand how the Grey Book could be applied and Councillor Crump was confident agreement could be found.
· Some of the points made required more detailed explanation and Councillor Crump would respond to those outside the meeting.